TOMMY (AKERMAN) ADDERLEY
(R.I.P.)

TRIBUTES

I remember Tommy from the time he used to come ashore when the Dominion
Monarch was in port and he would come to the Trades Hall in Vivien
Street when Tony Noorts had a band there sometime in the '50s perhaps.
The music was all jazz, The Trades was a pretty rough spot at times.
One night the cops turned up with a wooden box with rope handles that
they pretty much filled with knuckle dusters, chains and flick knives
they removed from patrons many of whom were off ships. Those Teddy
Boys all showed off some pretty cool jive steps on the dance floor.
A very young Mike Gibbs used to hang around with his trumpet waiting to
sit in too. Later Tommy used to do a floor show at various places
but his career was held back by his visually unpleasantly black teeth.
When he saved enough to have them capped his career blossomed.
Some time later he and I lived with our wives in an old rooming house
in Oriental Bay. While our spouses were out working day jobs we would
get up to mischief. One time Tommy got the bright idea of dressing
up in his wife's clothes with my enthusiastic help. When she came
home and found Tommy in a sultry pose she never spoke to me again.
When I was at Claridge's in Lower Hutt Tommy was a regular and popular
entertainer, part of a circuit he did performing floor shows in dance
halls and cabarets in the Hutt Valley and Wellington in the course of
an evening. - Rod Giddens

A time that I will never forget. It was 1965, Miss South
Canterbury Showtime spectacular! And top of the bill Tommy
Adderley and Lou and Simon, and the Big beat show band is "THE
OTHERS" direct from THE PRIDE OF PLACE nightspot
Christchurch. The band's drummer and leader was the very well
known Peter Dawkins and I was lead guitarist and Tommy's guitarist was
none other than the famous Doug Jerebine, and yes we had a blast, about
10 days together doing shows around the south Canterbury area.
Tommy had not long prior toured NZ with THE PRETTY THINGS, and he
couldn't stop talking about the fun they had. At that point our
Band was scheduled to split and myself and Peter Dawkins were to team up
with Paul Muggleston and Gary Thain from THE SECRETS and we were off to
the UK - this was the plan. We told Tommy this, who said, quote,
IF YOU EVER BUMP INTO ANY OF THE THINGS! PLEASE GIVE THEM TOMMY'S
REGARDS. He also gave me his mum's address in Birmingham to visit
her - the rest is history. The new band was formed ME AND THE
OTHERS and off to the UK we went on an experience never to be forgotten.
Refer to the story at http://garythain.5u.com/chapman.htm

Not long after being in London we met Viv Prince drummer for THE
PRETTY THINGS and through Tommy's intro we played 2 weeks at his SOHO
night club "KNUCKLES" Viv became a close friend and got
us a room to live next door to him in Chelsea along with Jet Harris
original THE SHADOWS bass player. All our success was by fine
threads, and even now too the recent release of our album ME AND THE
OTHERS UNCOVERED and NEW NADIR UNCOVERED recorded LONDON and GERMANY
1966-67. Check out http://homepage.hispeed.ch/featheredapple/

All our success was due too many factors, but the KICK START we got
was through TOMMY and every time I hear HEADBAND playing GOOD MORNING MR
ROCK N ROLL, I think of all these wonderful memories as if it were
yesterday.

And to conclude I will add something that many people would refuse to
believe, but I swear this is 100% fact and to duplicate this, winning
lotto would be easier. In FEB 1967 I flew home on BOAC and it was
always on my mind that I have too catch up with Tommy to tell him of our
adventure. There were many airport stops on the journey home, but
when we stopped at Sydney, the lady who sat beside me from Heathrow got
off as Sydney was her destination and people travelling on to Auckland
got on, and TOMMY ADDERLEY WAS ALLOCATED that seat beside me!! I
cannot stress enough that this is 100% fact, Tommy had been working in
Sydney and he was going back to Auckland. So this completed my
adventure. I told Tommy our story and about our good friend Viv
Prince that we did pass through Birmingham on the way to a Gig in
Manchester but it was about 4.30 am in the morning and a bit early to
knock on mum's door - and that's how it happened. TOMMY my dear friend
thanks a million and see you at the top. - Dave
Chapman

I have very fond memories of Tommy. I got to know him when he first
arrived in Wellington. He was a keen jazz singer, and an immaculate
dresser. I remember his tight, shiny, 3-button suits, and his were the
first "winklepicker" shoes we saw - very long and very
pointed. He was a funny, kind and gentle man and always great to meet
even if we hadn't seen each other for a few years.

Quite a few years after Tommy had died I was listening to the
National Program and heard Tommy singing his wonderful version of
"Some Other Time". Quite honestly, I wept when I heard it -
it's the most poignant version I have ever heard, and to me it was like
a last goodbye to the world from Tommy. I immediately contacted Radio
New Zealand to see if the track or record could be obtained but drew a
blank.

At the funeral of the late Don Richardson I met Dick La Fort, who as
you may recall is a prominent record and programme producer. Somehow,
the topic of this version of "Some Other Time" came up, and lo
and behold, Dick said that he had produced it! He very kindly sent me a
version of it, which I now enclose. I hope you will place it on your
site and allow his many friends and contemporaries to enjoy what I would
describe as Tommy's masterpiece. The accompanist is Terry Gray.
(If I'm
infringing a copyright, I hope the holders will understand my
motivation). - Noel Evans

Click on this play button to listen to "Some Other Time" Sorry, your browser can't play this HTML5 audio file

On the sixteenth
anniversary of his passing I visited Tommy's grave site with two close
friends. David Stone who was with Tommy when he died & Steve Larkins
another close musician friend. Here is a photo Dave took at the grave
site after we had swept it & placed fresh flowers with it. It was
very emotional as we three loved Tommy dearly just the same as many
others did. - Larry Morris

Fondly remember the nights
at Granpas, his awesome late night club, we had some fun, was doing
a 6 night residency at Travelodge and always went up there at the
weekends. Remember the night Elton's manager whacked Judith, the
kool house band with Mike Walker and Jimmy Hill, the regular cop busts,
Tom's never say die attitude, a real trooper! Truly NZ's Mr Rock n
Soul! - Peter Grattan

Some interesting memories
of a fun guy. One that sticks out was a gig at Paremoremo prison
around 1975 and looking up while we were performing to see one of the
inmates urinating in the corner of the room. Not quite the way
Johnny Cash would remember his prison shows!!! Always sad to lose real
human beings. - Peter Caulton

I'll always remember those heady
days at the 'Top 20'. You rocked! - Andy
Shackleton

Tommy was a great influence
from the time I first saw him opening for the Kinks, Manfred Mann &
the Honeycombs, at the Founders theatre in Hamilton 1964. He
was a warm friend a great listener. As nice a guy as you could ever
meet. - Tom Sharplin